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LGBT Postcards From Netroots Nation

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My better half, Caleb Eigsti, and I just finished a week in Las Vegas, where we attended our first Netroots Nation. The conference claims it “amplifies progressive voices by providing an online and in-person campus for exchanging ideas and learning how to be more effective in using technology to influence the public debate.” In reality, it was a swarming of over 2100 progressive activists, organizations, writers, and bloggers, who descended upon Sin City to talk shop, create new alliances, and rekindle old friendships.

(On Twitter, however, Netroots Nation, better known as #NN10, was an opportunity for the Ridiculous Right, especially, “#TCOT,” to lie and snark all weekend long. It’s truly amazing how disgusting, asinine, and juvenile our adversaries are!)

Netroots Nation this year was held at the Las Vegas Rio, which had a nice pool with nice fruity drinks…

but terrible Internet service…

Caleb and I spent an evening in Paris — the Paris Las Vegas! — where we won BIG MONEY!

Then, after Netroots Nation finished on Saturday, Caleb and I took a mini-vacation. I originally started writing this on Sunday from our room at the Bellagio, which offered an amazing view…

and amazing raspberry-stuffed french toast!

Now, it’s the wee hours of Tuesday morning. I’m on a plane (jetBlue!) sitting next to my partner, and trying to take all my thoughts and feelings about our first Netroots Nation conference and give you the “big picture” take-aways.

I confess I was surprised at the relatively small number of members of the LGBT community who attended, although I’m told it was our “best” showing ever. That concerns me.

Next year’s Netroots Nation has already been announced. It will be in June, in Minneapolis, where it’s cooler!…

… than Las Vegas’ 107 degree heat!

It was great to finally meet so many notables from our community, including The Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld, Pam Spaulding and Autumn Sandeen of Pam’s House Blend, Good As You’s Jeremy Hooper, and (yeah!) my (awesome!) Change.org editor, Michael A. Jones, as well as say hello to some amazing friends (all icons!) like Mike Rogers, Freedom to Marry’s Evan Wolfson, NGLTF’s Inga Sarda-Sorensen, Joe Jervis, aka, Joe.My. God, and GetEqual co-founder Robin McGehee.

Caleb and I attended many of the LGBT panels and caucuses. Most of our focus was on the issue of marriage, but we definitely noted some strong themes that ran throughout the entire conference.

Perhaps the most-repeated was the idea that all progressives need to work together, because we share the same ideals, and even if you don’t care about, say, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and even if I don’t care about, say, the environment (of course I do!,) we share the same adversaries/enemies, and we need to pool our resources and manpower (person-power?)

(Note: Read Caleb’s excellent takes on Netroots Nation: “Organizing Equality Under Obama, No Better Than Being Under Bush?” and “Marriage Equality Through A Netroots Nation Looking Glass.”)

As one speaker put it, the Tea Party has shown that they can easily switch from attacks on gays to attacks on blacks to attacks on Obama. We need to deploy the same flexibility and wide-reaching push-back skills.

So, after taking everything in and mulling it all over, here’s what I want you to know and to think about:

1.    Progressives, and perhaps especially LGBTs, seem beaten-down, though not, by any means, out. The LGBT leadership seemed especially focused on finding the positive in all the negatives, without changing gears or focus. It’s safe to say, from all I heard, that they are ready to continue our long slog at the same, slow pace, plodding along, offering little new tactics or strategy. This is a problem.

2.    I am, however, very pleased to finally see our leadership organizations working together. Long-time readers of this blog will know that I have respectfully chastised our leaders for not finding ways to work together. It would appear they have all now exchanged contact information!

3.    LGBT bloggers and activists need to now follow this lead and start working together. I’ve felt this way for a long time. Why don’t we share more information among ourselves, so we can be more efficient and effective in keeping our readers informed? Some of my LGBT blogging and activist friends have been very willing and ready to do this. Most recently, I’m thinking of Rod McCollum (Rod 2.0) and Scott Wooledge (DailyKos) with whom I worked on the sad, first anniversary of the murder of Seaman August Provost, and folks like Joe Jervis and David Mixner, who have been so supportive of me. (Thanks to you all!)

4.    You need to get (more) involved. Seriously. Whatever degree of involvement you have now, and I know for many readers of this blog you spend most of your waking hours “on patrol,” you need to step up the fight and get more of your friends, family, and co-workers working on our issues. There is no doubt in my mind that in just a very few short months, if Democrats don’t flood the polls, we will have given Congress — both houses — over to the GOP. That is unacceptable and cannot happen. If it does, we will have only ourselves to blame.

Again, you may remember the piece I wrote last summer over at Bilerico, “Fill The Void,” in which I warned that if we didn’t flood the media with positive news and information about LGBT issues, the right would “fill the void” with their lies and hate. That was one of the reasons we created, “The Great Nationwide Kiss-In.” It worked!

I want to challenge all my LGBT friends and allies to find ways to counteract the lies we know will be coming from the Right this August. With Congress in recess, they’ll have little to do and we can easily end up their target. Let’s take this opportunity this year to throw the first punch.

Next year, I truly want to see some things happen differently at Netroots Nation 2011. Primarily, I want more opportunities for the LGBT caucus to work together. I want our bloggers and activists and organizations locked in a room for a full day, sharing ideas and frustrations and coming up not only with ways to be more efficient and effective, but with actual strategies and focuses. There was a pre-Netroots day where 50+ bloggers got together, and Mike Rogers promises to open it up to many more next year.

I’ll leave you with one final thought: Regardless of what you call yourself, a progressive, a liberal, a Democrat, or someone with left-leaning tendencies, it is critical that we stand together now, and through November. Or surely, we will stand alone.

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‘Lame Duck’ Trump Loses Major Battle in Indiana: ‘Not Even Close to Being Close’

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President Donald Trump’s efforts to compel Indiana lawmakers to enact a mid-decade congressional map that could have wiped out all of the Hoosier State’s Democratic seats in the U.S. House of Representatives has failed.

“Republicans hold a 40-10 advantage in the state Senate but still rejected Trump’s pressure,” The Washington Post reported. HuffPost called it a “a furious pressure campaign by Trump.”

“Indiana’s proposed congressional map goes down in flames in the state Senate, 31-19,” Votebeat managing editor Nathaniel Rakich observed. 26 votes were needed for the new maps to have been adopted.

Politico reported that the “failed vote is the culmination of a brass-knuckled four-month pressure campaign from the White House on recalcitrant Indiana Republicans that included private meetings and public shaming from Trump, multiple visits from Vice President JD Vance, whip calls from Speaker Mike Johnson and veiled threats of withheld federal funds.

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“Not even close to being close,” noted Bloomberg Government’s Jonathan Tamari. “I certainly did not predict the Indiana state Senate as a hotbed of Trump resistance.”

“Trump’s such a lame duck that he is getting his a– kicked by the Indiana State Senate,” remarked former Obama senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer.

Journalist Todd Zwillich called it a “Wholesale rejection” of a “threat” from the conservative Heritage Action.

Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), noted that Trump “didn’t just lose that vote, he got blown out.”

Lesson for national Republicans,” wrote Jessica Riedel of the Brookings Institution. “You don’t have to sell out every principle and publicly worship Trump. Really, you can just do things. And you should ask why it took some state legislators in Indiana to finally stand up for common sense governance.”

You do, unironically and in earnest, have to hand it to the Indiana GOP for not giving in to the threats on their lives etc.,” declared Everytown Senior Director of Communications Max Steele. “Trump is a duck getting lamer by the day. Hopefully this emboldens others to do what’s right.”

READ MORE: ‘Where Is Antifa Headquartered?’: FBI Official Struggles Defending Top Threat Label

 

Image via Reuters

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‘Shakedown’: Outrage Over Claim of Trump Plan to Defund Indiana in Map Clash

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Heritage Action and President Donald Trump are coming under fire after the conservative advocacy organization made a claim that the president threatened to defund the state of Indiana should lawmakers not pass legislation to redraw its congressional district maps.

“President Trump has made it clear to Indiana leaders: if the Indiana Senate fails to pass the map, all federal funding will be stripped from the state,” Heritage Action wrote on social media on Thursday. “Roads will not be paved. Guard bases will close. Major projects will stop. These are the stakes and every NO vote will be to blame.”

The post ended with, “#PassTheMap.”

While President Trump has publicly threatened to support primary challengers against lawmakers who oppose his redistricting push, NCRM has not found any news reports confirming Heritage Action’s assertion. It is possible the group is relying on information that has not been reported or made public.

READ MORE: ‘Where Is Antifa Headquartered?’: FBI Official Struggles Defending Top Threat Label

Should Indiana pass legislation to redistrict, it reportedly could pick up only two more GOP-held seats.

Critics blasted Heritage Action, a sister group to the Heritage Foundation, for appearing to support Trump’s alleged threat, and blasted the president as well.

“The president and one of the most influential conservative groups in the country are threatening to deprive all Indiana residents of paved roads, guard bases, and major projects if they don’t pass an extremely gerrymandered map to deprive voters of choice,” noted Isaac Saul, founder of Tangle News. “Awesome stuff.”

“Heritage sure loves authoritarianism,” remarked Media Matters researcher Zachary Pleat.

Calling it “nonsense,” Joel Griffith, a senior fellow at the conservative group Advancing American Freedom wrote: “Appalling to see @Heritage_Action endorse this unconstitutional threat by @realDonaldTrump. The President does not have power to coerce state legislators to redraw congressional maps.”

Others appeared to aim their ire directly at the president.

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“This is the behavior of a madman,” declared Tim Carney, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

“This isn’t conservative. This is fascist,” commented former Republican U.S. Congressman Joe Walsh.

Mother Jones’ D.C. bureau chief David Corn declared the move “dictatorial.”

“This does not sound like an appropriate or legal use of federal authority or presidential discretion,” observed Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias.

“Nothing about this shakedown is conservative,” noted CNN’s Jake Tapper.

Jacob Stewart, the deputy opinion editor for the IndyStar called the move “illegal.”

Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the conservative online magazine The Dispatch, wrote: “I remember when Heritage cared about federalism, the rule of law, separation of powers, and all that stuff. Now it’s all ‘We love Trump’s musk, do what he says (or what Tucker says).'”

“This is called extortion,” wrote former White House correspondent Sam Youngman, also deeming it “illegal.”

“If this comes to pass,” wrote IndyStar columnist James Briggs, “then the story will be that Trump is punishing Indiana citizens for reasons that have nothing to do with them and so-called Indianans will see the punitive measures for what they are.”

READ MORE: ‘You’re a Loser Dude’: Carville Scorches Trump as ‘Done’

 

Image via Reuters

 

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‘Where Is Antifa Headquartered?’: FBI Official Struggles Defending Top Threat Label

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A top FBI official struggled to explain his claim that Antifa is the “most immediate violent threat” America is facing, as he was challenged to provide details.

Former Trump FBI Director Christopher Wray stated in 2020 congressional testimony that Antifa is “not a group or an organization. It’s a movement or an ideology.” The BBC has explained that Antifa is “a loosely organized, leftist movement that opposes far-right, racist and fascist groups.”

“Antifa is short for anti-fascist,” BBC added. “It is a loose, leaderless affiliation of mostly far-left activists.”

House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson on Thursday asked Michael Glasheen, FBI National Security Operations Director, to describe “organizations that pose, on the domestic side,” the number one and number two threats to the homeland.

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Glasheen asked for clarification.

“Any domestic terrorist organizations that poses a threat to the homeland as we speak,” Thompson replied.

Pointing to President Trump’s designation of Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, Glasheen said, “That’s our primary concern right now.”

He described Antifa as “the most immediate violent threat that we’re facing on the domestic side.”

“So, where is the Antifa headquartered?” Thompson pressed.

After a pause, Glasheen said: “What we’re doing right now —” before Thompson cut him off.

“Where, in the United States, does Antifa exist?” he asked. “If it’s a terrorist organization — and you’ve identified it as number one.”

“We are building out the infrastructure right now,” Glasheen responded.

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“So what does that mean?” Thompson pressed. “Where do they exist? How many members do they have in the United States as of right now?”

“Well, that’s very fluid,” Glasheen said, describing it as “ongoing,” before comparing the situation to Al Qaeda and ISIS.

“I asked one question, sir,” Thompson replied. “I just want you to tell us. If you said Antifa is the number one domestic terrorist organization, operating in the United States, I just need to know where they are, how many people. I don’t want a name. I don’t want anything like that. Just, how many people have you identified with the FBI, that Antifa is made of?”

“Well, the investigations are active,” Glasheen replied.

“Sir, you wouldn’t come to this committee and say something you can’t prove. I know. I knew you wouldn’t do that. But you did.”

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